The First Fallout 4 Details Revealed - Update

The full reveal from Bethesda's first E3 press conference, including a release date.

Update 2: At Microsoft's E3 briefing, Todd Howard returned to announce that Fallout 4 players on Xbox One will have access to user created mods for the PC version. These mods will be available free of charge.

Update: Bethesda has released a collection of screenshots and concept art for Fallout 4, which you can see in the gallery below.

Original Story: Bethesda Game Director Todd Howard presented the long-awaited first gameplay demonstration of Fallout 4. Promising early in his presentation to show a lot, Howard delivered

Following a concept art showcase, featuring wasteland vistas and the level of detail applied to items like computer terminals, we were shown the game's player creation system. Fallout 4, as hinted at by the first trailer, will begin before the nuclear apocalypse. Players will design their character using a point-and-click style interface to create a pair of parents. Players will be able to be either male or female.

The character's psychological profile will be created through events these parents later experience in this preamble, such as a conversation with a Vault-Tec employee who visits the house to offer a space in a Vault.

Eventually, the air raid sirens begin to blare, and it's off to Vault 111, where the player will emerge 200 years later as the only survivor.

Further in the demo, we're shown the player meeting the dog seen in the trailer. The dog can be ordered to perform tasks, such as collecting items from the environment or attacking enemies. In the gameplay video, we are shown a combat situation involving the player, a dog and some mole rats. The VATS system returns, though it appears that the game will be just as flexible toward its use as Fallout 3 and New Vegas were.

A brand new Pip-Boy is being introduced, found shortly after the player exits the vault. The device, which has been used as a menu system in prior titles, will have additional functions in Fallout 4, including mini-games.

The collector's edition of Fallout 4 will ship with a Pip-Boy enclosure which players can insert their phone into and actually wear. An app will be released for iOS and Android which will also provide a second screen experience for the main game. "As stupid gimmicks go," said Howard, "it's awesome."

But perhaps the biggest news is the inclusion of a new crafting system. Players will be able to scrap items to acquire resources, then use those resources to build new structures and grow a settlement in the wasteland. Players will also be able to build generators and use them to power turrets for defense, a necessary step as player-built will become the target of raider attacks.

The crafting system will provide a purpose for all of the junk items in the game, which break down into a variety of components used in other item recipes. Weapons and more than 700 modifications for them can be built using the system, and even power armor can be customized.

Finally, Howard announced a release date. Fallout 4 will release on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One later this year, on November 10.